The EAT Team has landed and our journey has officially begun! Hannah and I are both safe and sound in Bangkok. She arrived this morning from Manchester, and I flew from Los Angeles yesterday, air fare compliments of Tim Ferriss (many thanks!)

Quick thoughts so far:

Kimchee is a LOT spicier in Korea than in California

A lot of folks in Korea wear masks–to protect themselves or others from illness?

Bangkok is insane. Organized chaos.

I have an afro now. Like Monica in the episode where they went to Hawaii.

Stoked that there are a lot of Germans in Thailand!

My flight was as good as a 24 hour journey could be–I slept for the first 6 and was awakened by the scent of a meal of I’ve never eaten before–Korean “bibimbap”, which literally came with its own instruction manual for the 3 or 4 westerners and other foreigners seated on the giant 747. Reading that combined with imitating the Korean teenagers sitting next to me resulted in a full belly and a happy tongue. Spinach, vinegar cucumbers, steamed rice, minced beef, chili paste, sesame oil, soup and sweet beans with walnuts was an unexpectedly fantastic combination.

Seafood soup & kimchee on my layover in Seoul.

At Temple Samin Aree in Bangkok

Currently I’m (making an attempt at) staying cool in the air conditioned house of our awesome couchsurfing host, Johann, who is a fantastic chef (Italian food in Bangkok..) . It’s been less than 24 hours since my arrival but I’m in a great state of shock. I’ve never been in a place like this before–it’s buzzing frantically with heat and action, traffic and people in every inch, cats and dogs napping in pockets of shade, colorful clothes and signs and buildings, pink taxis speeding this way and that, and cheap delicious eats on every corner. There are 7-11s on almost every block–I got a Thai Ice Tea out of their slurpee machine this morning on my way to meet Hannah at the local temple, which was manned by several monks in orange robes tending to the cows pictured above.

Johann took me to get a great soup last night: chicken leg in beef noodle soup with beef blood pudding. The blood pudding looked and tasted like brown tofu, but I must admit knowing what it actually was grossed me out. Consciously, I don’t think its stranger to eat the blood or brain or heart than its leg muscle, but I’m going to have to practice to get used to the real life action of it.

I’ve only been here for 24 hours so there’s not much else to tell. All I know is this shit’s weird. And I like it a lot.

“This shit is weird, and I like it a lot”. < you need to trademark this! I am beyond excited for you. I love the pictures. The food looks amazing. And all that colour. So inspired by and loving your project.

Thank you Hans! I never made it to Aroma, is it good? I still have so many places to try in Berlin! I love the updates you send me by the way, makes me feel I can be in all the places I love at one time